Young Writers Society

How Long Can YOU Cheat Death with Thirteen Days Till Midnight?
A Book Review by RenGrey
What would you do if you had the ability to be immortal and invulnerable? How would you use it? Jacob Fielding is faced with this choice after he and his guardian are in a fatal crash. The thing is Jacob should be dead – but he isn’t. After his guardian the words “You Are Indestructible.” He is deemed so. And Jacob walks away unscathed. His guardian on the other hand is not so lucky. He dies instantly. Weeks after the accident Jacob tells his friend Milo, and later the new girl in town Ophelia (Oh) James, who they quickly become friends with. They switch the ability between them keeping them safe in incidents: from fights at school to skateboard accidents. Then one day Oh thinks up the idea of using Jacobs’s ability to really help people, like with a superhero. It helps, and they feeling they get from it is like no other. Then they realize that this may not be as much as a blessing as they thought before. And as the days pass, it becomes more and more apparent that this is a curse, because for everyone they save: someone else must die in their place. Death though, doesn’t like to be cheated, and that’s when the clock starts to run out. This book was heart pounding and intriguing. The title alone drew me in, and after the first few pages I was hooked. The characters were brilliantly created and believable. And the story opens a door that is so real you might be able to swear that it’s possible. This book blurs the lines between right and wrong, making you face your darkest fears and make life changing consequences – possibly life ending. On a scale of out of ten stars I would give it a ten. Patrick Carman is the one of a kind author behind some of the books in the 39 Clues series, Skeleton Creek and many more. This dark superhero story will have you chilled to the bone as everyday passes. With 13 days to find the answers, death is at every turn, right at their heels. And the ones he loves are the next target. This book is one I would recommend to any and every one of my friends. As for age range I would have to say anyone over the age of twelve will be able to read this. Any younger and I think they will be scared out of their wits. The average person lives to be 80 years old, how much time do you have left? Always remember “The Grim Reaper doesn’t disappear, he catches up.”

This sounds like a great book/idea for a story. I want to see more about it. If it is a book and you are simply reviewing it, I want to know where I can find it and read it. But if you did write the story, I want to read more of it. I am wondering how transfered the ability to others, and how they choose who was going to die, or was it just random.

Sounds brilliant!!!! Good review by the way. Oh and it's a big long for a review though. Imagine fitting all that on the back cover. You should also separate paragraphs or it'll be confusing. Add a few words here and there to make it clearer. Other then that, good job!
Dragon Rider

To both of you thanks for your comments. This is a book review for a book called Thirteen Days till Midnight. by Patrick Carman. you can google it. i assume it can be bought anywhere books are sold.

1

hmm, can one really review a review? I won't try. But I will say that you need to break this up into paragraphs.

And as the days pass, it becomes more and more apparent that this is a curse, because for everyone they save: someone else must die in their place.

(squeeze a break in here.)

Death though, doesn’t like to be cheated, and that’s when the clock starts to run out.

then you could put another one...

making you face your darkest fears and make life changing consequences – possibly life ending.

(here.)

On a scale of out of ten stars I would give it a ten.

Just find a suitable place, somewhere with a nuance, a subtle shift in topic. If you find your paragraphs dragging on, then force one in, your readers will thank you for it.
I won't talk about the writing itself, it was a little sycophantic for my taste, I wouldn't call it balanced. But like I said I'm not one for reviewing reviews. Anyway keep up the good work and PM me if you want any more explanation on where to place breaks in your writing, it really makes reading it much easier!

JP

Thanks JP I appreciate it!